The five dissident black Cuban activists
who attended AfricAméricas Week in Pittsburgh are all members of the
Citizens’ Committee for Racial Integration -- Leonardo Calvo Cárdenas,
Manuel Cuesta Morúa, Juan Antonio Madrazo Luna, Rafel Campoamor, and Dr.
Juan Antonio Alvarado, the editor of Islas. Leonardo Calvo Cárdenas is the
Cuba representative for Islas. The US based Afro-Cuban Alliance, Inc., the
publisher of Islas, received $124,466 in 2011 from the National Endowment
for Democracy (NED),
$110,000 in 2010, $122,350 in 2009, and has been financed by NED since 2005.
Islas and CubaNet are the favored on-line spaces where the CIR posts their
articles. CubaNet is also NED funded, having received $252,000 in 2011,
$239,434 in 2010, and $155,710 in 2009. NED has its origins in CIA's
operation Mockingbird, aka the "Mighty Wurlitzer" organ designed by the
legendary Frank Wisner to play any propaganda tune. When the CIA's funding
of a vast array of intellectual production was repeatedly revealed, this
caused a great deal of embarrassment and lead Ronald Reagan and Congress to
replace it with open funding mandated by Congress, as if that were going
to make it OK for the US to intervene in other countries' internal
affairs. Imagine Russia or China openly funding a US political opposition
dedicated to the overthrow of the US government. Consider that NED heavily
funded groups in Venezuela and Honduras that supported coups in those
countries.

Leonardo Calvo Cárdenas, Manuel Cuesta
Morúa, and Juan Antonio Madrazo Luna came up from Cuba, a historic first as dissidents have only
recently been allowed to travel. The materials they had prepared for
AfricAméricas were confiscated by Cuban customs, a practice I am familiar
with as they confiscated some video tapes I made in the 90's where people
were discussing racism in Cuba and the script
had not been authorized. I later learned that the customs agents who confiscated my tapes
were in secret Congo societies which proliferate across various official
bodies. Future CIR presenters should get their presentations out before
they leave! They could ask the people at CubaNet, their NED grant states:
"CubaNet will also provide independent Cuban journalists with training on
the use of new technologies and digital security techniques." Many people
are actually interested in what they have to say - that was one element
that was frustrating in Pittsburgh, there was only a superficial rendering
of the content of the various events in the media.

This Pittsburgh event privileged certain US financed dissidents who,
when all is said and done, act in coordination with those who
seek the overthrow of the Cuban government. Focusing on the recipients of NED largess
tends to obscure the many critical voices that now exist in
Cuba and who work within the system. See Sujatha Fernandes'
Cuban journalists exposing injustice merit more attention,
5/6/2013, for a look at this important issue.

The press coverage of AfricAméricas has unfortunately been scant, largely confined to
the exiled plantocracy organs of CubaNet and Diario de Cuba. One article in
the
Pittsburgh Post Gazette made the statement that Fidel Castro
declared the racial problem was solved in Cuba. So far as I have
been able to tell, he never said any such
thing, so perhaps the CIR can produce the appropriate document. Raul specifically stated
in 2009 "Personally, I consider the
insufficient advance on this matter in 50 years of Revolution to be
a disgrace." What Cuban government sources tend to claim is
that the government has abolished institutional racism but has not
been successful in changing the culture. There is some truth to
this, though various forms of institutional racism are obfuscated in
a typically latin style, common across France, Spain, and Latin
America, including Brazil. Those sources are generally quick to
point out that racism in the US is worse. This actually needs to be
explained, as people get confused now that the US has a black
president: Cubans have no idea or experience of the level of violent
racism we see in the US, where police routinely carry out
extrajudicial killings or a private security guard can kill a
Trayvon Martin and have many citizens back him to the hilt. See for
example the thousands of KKK comments at
State pushes to keep Trayvon Martin's past out of George Zimmerman
trial 5/13/2013, WKMG, Orlando.

The
CIR's effort to show poor areas of Havana in a photographic exhibit
in Pittsburgh is worthy, but trying to pin
that on the Castro brothers, as they say in Miami, simply will not
stand in the face of similar vistas across the continent. That's a
stretch even for the Mighty Wurlitzer.

Feedback from people in the community of researchers that deals with
racialidad in Cuba indicates that CIR members come to their
presentations, but never make any comments and do not invite other
researchers to their events. So there is little exchange of ideas of
the sort that should happen if CIR is to become normalized and
accepted, which seems to be in the cards given present trends. CIR,
like other dissident groups, has a tendency to use the products of
other Cubans to make their case - the research of Esteban Morales
and others, the films of Gloria Rolando -- which were shown in
Pittsburgh. CIR needs to pay more attention to producing their own
original materials.

I note with interest that Rafel Campoamor is a member of SOS Racisme
in France and would like to hear of his experiences there, given the
many similarities between Cuban and
French racism. That analysis finds that communism has little to
do with racism in Cuba, it is much more related to Cuban
republicanismo, which they inherited from the French like many
countries in Latin America did. I can recommend to him the site Les Mots
Sont Importants -
lmsi.net - which takes apart all the rationalizations for racism
the French indulge in, they sound remarkably like those found in
Cuba. Oui, monsieur! Si, señor!

The CIR members then went on to the 2013 LASA meeting of the Latin
American Studies Association. A Cuban delegation was also there,
including Miguel Barnet, the
president of UNEAC, and Gisela Arandia,
a long time researcher into issues of race and identity. I spoke to
several reliable observers who related that Manuel Cuesta Morúa had
done a superior job of organizing his event, which was better
thought out and much better attended than the Cuban government
event. With one exception, the Cuban delegation avoided any
challenge to the dissidents, following the time honoured tactic of
ignoring their opposition. With the increasing openness in
communications and all the new money pouring into AfroCuban issues
from the State Department and USAID, this may not prove to be a good
counter to US public relations techniques. See
Breakdown of the $20 million 5/22/2013 from Along the Malecon:

"The State Department and the U.S. Agency for International
Development plan to spend $20 million to promote democracy in Cuba.
Below is a breakdown of the budget: …

TBD: Afro-Cuban Equality and Advocacy:$500,000. Funds will be used
to "raise awareness of issues affecting Afro-Cubans and assist in
the development of a network of independent Afro-Cuban groups in
Cuba."

It is not clear if this is in addition to or includes the previous
$120K or so Islas has been receiving each year, but in either case,
it represents a significant ramping up of the dollars theoretically
going to black dissidents after the usual Miami elements get their
cut.

Tuesday
May 7 5:00-6:30PM Film afternoon I-Roots
of My Heart (2001) by Gloria Rolando (YMWAHA-Northside) Discussant:
Dr. Kenya C. Dworkin (Carnegie Mellon University)
Mercedes, a Cuban woman from Havana, begins to decipher her family secrets
through the photo of her great-grandparents, María Victoria y José Julián.
Between reality and the world of her dreams, she will learn about the ties
this couple— especially her great-grandfather—had with the Independents of
Color, a political party formed in 1908 and the massacre of 1912. 51
minutes. Admission free. Admission free. [Note: Carnegie Mellon purchased
Gloria Rolando's film for their own use, she will not be presenting these
films.]
PARKING ALONG NORTH AVENUE OR AT ALCO PARKING AT
Federal North Garage
1215 Federal St
Pittsburgh, PA 15212

Film afternoon II-My Footsteps in
Baragua (1996) by Gloria Rolando (YMWAHA-Northside) Discussant: Dr.
Kenya C. Dworkin (Carnegie Mellon University)
In Baragua, in the present province of Ciego de Avila, Cuba, the stories
and customs of the English-speaking West Indian immigrants who worked on
the Panama Canal, and their descendants, are still alive. Today, they are
a part of Cuba, but their traditions live on. This film is dedicated to
three important Caribbean intellectuals—Nicolas Guillén (Cuba), George
Lamming (Barbados) and Rex Nettleford (Jamaica). 52 minutes. Admission
free. [Note: Carnegie Mellon purchased Gloria Rolando's film for their own
use, she will not be presenting these films.]
PARKING ALONG NORTH AVENUE OR AT ALCO PARKING AT
Federal North Garage
1215 Federal St
Pittsburgh, PA 15212

Wednesday
May 8 7:00-9:00PM ISLAS journal
presentation, with panel & reception
City of Asylum (Northside) RSVP to COA required
Four Cuban scholars and civil rights activists—Juan Antonio Madrazo Luna,
Leonardo Calvo Cárdenas, Manuel Cuesta Morúa and Rafel Campoamor, will be
joined by Juan Antonio Alvarado, Editor-in-Chief of the bilingual journal
ISLAS, a publication dedicated to the issue of racism and discrimination
in Cuba and elsewhere, to discuss the grassroots work their organization
and others are doing in Cuba. They will also be discussing the role of
ISLAS as a space in which by publishing articles they can educate people
about racism and discrimination in Cuba and dialogue with other civil
rights activists around the world about shared problems and strategies for
resolving them.

Thursday
May 9 7:30-9:30PM Film night II-Breaking
the Silence: 1912 (2010) by Gloria Rolando (CMU-UC-Peter-McKenna
Room-Oakland) Discussant: TBD
Chapter One of this documentary series explores the history of the
Independent Party of Color in
Cuba (PIC), the first black political party in this hemisphere (1908)
and its violent repression, in 1912, by
the Cuban government and army—an episode that left more than 3000 people
dead. Relying heavily on archival material and personal interviews, the
filmmaker reveals a history that has been relatively ignored for over 110
years in Cuba. Of additional importance for us now is that the PIC’s list
of demands regarding most of this population’s hopes and desires, back
between 1908-1912, is as cogent today as it was over a hundred years ago.
With a Q&A and discussion period afterwards. 60 minutes. Admission free.
[Note: Carnegie Mellon purchased Gloria Rolando's film for their own use,
she will not be presenting these films.]
FREE PARKING AT CMU FORBES AVENUE-EAST CAMPUS GARAGE AFTER 5:30PM

Friday
May 10 5:00-6:30PM Film afternoon III-Suite Habana (2003) by Fernando
Pérez (YMWAHA -Northside) Discussant: Felipe Prunedas Sentíes, ABD
(University of Pittsburgh)
A semi-documentary film that employs fictional cinema techniques and no
dialogue to follow the lives of 13 residents of Havana, Cuba, as they face
the challenges—personal and professional—of one given day. A graceful
testimony to the resilience of the Cuban people. 80 minutes. Admission
free.
PARKING ALONG NORTH AVENUE OR AT ALCO PARKING AT
Federal North Garage
1215 Federal St
Pittsburgh, PA 15212

Admission free but ALL workshops require prior registration. To register,
please call YMWAHA at 412-322-4008, Monday-Friday, May 6-10, from 9AM-3PM.
FREE PARKING AT CMU FORBES AVENUE-EAST CAMPUS GARAGE AFTER 5:30PM, OR AT
SOLDIERS' AND SAILORS', OR NEAR UPITT.

Crackdown on Afro-Cubans destroys myth of racial equality 5/15/2013 Racismo
en Cuba: “Blacks in Cuba not only have fewer relatives living and working abroad
that can send money for food and other basics, but they are also excluded from
having one of the few profit-making small businesses in tourism, or paladares
(small, privately-owned restaurants), or taxi services that others can access to
make a living and support their families. And those who control all of this are
the majority white bureaucracy that will tell you to your face that, because
your parents weren’t military or part of the government, that you can’t be hired
or open a small business,” Soler said. Soler recounted the beatings which she
and the other Ladies in White have received for speaking out, and that the
tactics of repression now included being stuck with needles to induce fear that
one could be susceptible to infection and subsequently denied medical care, if
the regime so chooses."

Six-day event in Pittsburgh targets discrimination in Cuba 5/11/2013
Pittsburgh Post Gazette: "The fact that the Cuban government let black activists
travel was historic, she said. The men described their humiliation at the Havana
Airport, where they were the only blacks on their flight. Besides being stared
at, they were relieved of cameras, CDs, thumb drives and information they were
going to share at AfricAmericas. Asked Wednesday by a woman in the audience if
they are at risk, Leonardo Calvo Cardenas, a writer and historian, said, "The
risk was there before we came and it will be there when we go back." They have
been arrested, followed and threatened. So far, there has been no physical
violence, they said, adding that the government has sewn the fear of
self-subjugation into most people."